Camp Grandma Omaha

Girls camp corresponds quite aptly to the time I recently spent in Omaha for what I am affectionately calling

  "Camp Grandma Omaha".

Following are parallels

• Acting goofy in ways I never would in "regular" life - a time to let the silly side fully blossom.
  

• Lots of singing -   singing at the table, driving, walking, swinging and bathing. Just like girls camp songs  play over and over in my head at the oddest times.  "Thank you, thank you my heart sings" "Sing out with vigor and vim" "Always tell the truth and love it" and all the Articles of Faith songs, for that was the CD in the car that we heard over and over.  I never did change it.  But Hyrum and Emmaline didn't seem to mind.  "Book of Mormon Stories" was on it, one of Hyrum's favorites always sung at bedtime among the many other bedtime songs.

• Lack of sleep - a big one for both types of camps.  My first "solo" night was a little rough.  Thursday evening, we skyped with Joseph and Eliza.  This upset Hyrum and Emmaline more than it comforted them.  Emmaline ran, to the front door and window crying; desperately looking for Mom and Dad.  Bedtime was a little sad that night.  Residual distress must have lingered through their sleeping.  Emmaline woke up about 2:00 a.m, quite upset.  I brought her to bed and soon she calmed down and began jabbering cheerfully.  Hyrum woke at 5 a.m. also crying for Mom and Dad.  Thankfully that was the most sleepless night; following nights were much better.  Connected to lack of sleep is also the next one -

• A variety of sleeping buddies - Also common for both camps.  Only one night I slept alone.  Emmaline was my usual sleeping buddy, just call me a softie, or maybe I just wanted someone to cuddle.  The first and last nights I slept in an air mattress in the living room. (The last night I had put clean sheets on Eliza's and Joseph's bed - to keep them fresh I took the floor.)  That last night Hyrum was my sleeping buddy.
• Exploring new environs - one of the best parts of camp, right?  Exploring!  Eliza outlined excursions for each day.  We went to the Joslyn Art Museum, with a fun interactive children's section.

Emmaline by an easel.  There were more exciting activities, but got only this shot during a bit of lull.

The Children's Museum - a place dedicated solely to children's learning and play was our second day's outing.  Hyrum had great fun shopping at the play grocery store, filling his toy cart with most of the toy milk off the shelves.  In the bakery he enjoyed creating a toy birthday cake.  Emmaline loved to splash in the river/water station.  She was also quite occupied setting a table in the family/home area.

Emmaline pulled dish after dish one at a time, to set the table until it was entirely full, busy girl!

Hyrum creating.

We walked to the Train Park, Turtle Park and school playground twice.  Joseph and Eliza are nicely located for so many sites and parks within mere minutes.  The grand finale of outings was on Monday when we went to the amazing Omaha Zoo.

Hyrum could come close to the birds.

Okapi the only relative of a giraffe.

We kept seeing a foursome of missionaries - warmly comforting to me!

Wasn't able to capture both the chimp and Hyrum in one shot

Happy Camper!

• Campfires- One purpose of the nightly campfire is to wind down for the day and bond a little before bed.  This we did with movie time.  Although Eliza and Joseph generally have only one night a week as movie night, I found that at that time of day when I would normally have the companionship of another adult to trade me off, viewing a movie to relax or give me time to catch up on household tasks helped my rhythm.  Toy Story 3, Daniel Tiger and Moana were the showings for Thurs, Fri and Sat nights respectively.  Moana was a generous gift from a neighbor and that was our "official movie night" with popcorn.  Sunday night we did not have a movie.
  

• Meeting new people - The generous neighbor was Autumn whose husband is also in the dental program.  We met up with her by chance at the school playground on Friday late afternoon.  She shared an interesting story about her father who was a young engineering student at BYU looking for a use of a new kind of plastic that would contract and expand with air temperature.  He had investors who joined with him as he developed the "dogloo" an igloo for dogs.  He retired at age 35.  
• Other new people we met were Talena, who watched the children on Monday night in the few hours of interim between my flight leaving and Joseph and Eliza's flight arriving.  Also kind Becca, who let us into the zoo on her pass.  And one good Samaritan, Maurice, who gave us a jump to start the car Sunday morning.  Which brings us to another important commonality for both camps -
• Faith Promoting Experiences -  Sunday morning flowed fairly smoothly.  To occupy the time before leaving for the 11 a.m. meeting we played with play-doh.  Joseph and Eliza left gifts, one to be opened each day.  I completely forgot until Sunday morning when a quiet prompting reminded me.  It was the perfect activity; relatively clean with new dough novelties.

  

  This was the set 

  

  Hyrum created other items before this ear alternative.  

  
  

  

  Emmaline imitating.

  I thought I had allowed plenty of time to be ready for church.  I drove a practice run on Saturday afternoon. I packed the diaper bag Saturday night.  Baths also. Clothes laid out and shoes found by Saturday night.  But we were cutting it a little close by the time I loaded everyone into the car.  But then it wouldn't start.  Previously Joseph had told me if I wanted to find the way to church I could just follow anyone out of the parking lot.  I flagged down a car, introduced myself and asked for help from Maurice who, with his family, was also on the way to church.  Praying that I could at least make it in time for the sacrament, Maurice had cables and successfully started the car.  When we walked into church the second verse of the sacrament hymn was playing.  I felt so grateful to be able to partake of the sacrament - my prayer was answered!  As a side note, I had contemplated skipping church because Emmaline was a little under the weather.  Joseph called that morning and said they could find someone to take Hyrum if I wanted to stay home with Emmaline, but I felt like I should still go.  If I hadn't, I wouldn't have learned that the car needed a jump and may have not had the ability to use the car the next day for the zoo or to get to the airport.  Very blessed!  (I think the battery died because a car door wasn't shut tight from the day before.)

The next faith building experience happened Sunday evening.  I decided to do a trial drive to the airport so I would know how long it would take and to scope out where I would park the car for Joseph and Eliza to pick up when they arrived.  Joseph had downloaded maps of Omaha to my phone, which was his old phone with my new Wyo number.  I punched in the search for the airport.  Made it no problem.  Really an easy route.  Started back home and couldn't figure out why the surroundings had changed.  Backtracked and took another road, still unfamiliar landmarks and roads.  By now both kids were asleep in the back seat.  I pulled over to a parking area by a river and pulled out my phone.  "Unable to connect.  Try again." it said.  I thought I had the maps regardless of internet connection, that's how Joseph arranged it.  Maybe I was in Iowa and that's why it wasn't working?  If I called Joseph would I even be able to tell him where I was so he could re-direct me?  I had no clue where I was.  I felt a little panicked, but then turned to the Ultimate GPS and prayed for guidance.  A very clear but gentle direction came to me, "You turned the wrong way when you left the airport.  Go back and turn the other way."  When I pulled out from the airport I turned to go away from the airport.  Seems logical right?  But not so.

I came in at the South entrance (and the next day parked the car at the South parking.)  But on Sunday evening I entered the South entrance and exited at the North entrance and turned North which was the opposite way to go.  That route took me farther from home.  The clear and specific direction through revelation I received caused my heart to swell with gratitude and to feel very loved and watched over.

• Laugh Out Loud Experiences -  another gift that Joseph and Eliza left were bubbles.  This was a fun Sunday after dinner activity.  The weather was super nice, especially for this Star Valley girl who had left a frozen landscape.

How does he do that?

Trying to catch the bubbles

  Before dinner Hyrum and Emmaline were playing with play-doh again.  As the chicken and potatoes got closer to being done, Hyrum wisely says, "I better change my clothes so I don't get ranch on them."  Hyrum likes a little bit of potatoes with his ranch dressing. 😋 Very well trained, I thought, to be thinking of keeping his church clothes clean.  When he came downstairs, I could see he had more than one pair of sweatpants on.  The day before he had worn shorts under a pair of sweatpants in case it got hot enough, then he would just be able to take off his pants.  Smart again! So I thought he had done the same this time.  Happy bubble play while I cleaned up dinner.  Suddenly Hyrum runs in, "Grandma! I need to go potty!"  Up the stairs we race.  Pull off his first pair of sweatpants, then another pair of sweatpants and then five pairs of underwear!  Five pairs do not come off in one quick tug. Such a bunch can only pull off one at a time.  All the clothing ended up wet.  I can imagine that Hyrum wanted to wear all of his paw patrol underwear at once not being able to decide which one he liked best.  By the way, that was one of only two potty accidents that happened while I was there.  I did have to help him use a flower bed at the train park too - but hey, he stayed dry!

And now - Ta, da, da daa!

 Awards of Merit

Most Cheerful Riser - goes to Emmaline!  Especially exemplified when she had been up through the night from about 2 until about 4.  At 5:30 Hyrum saw her on the bed, called out, "Emmaline!  Emmaline's here!" and gave her a big kiss on the cheek.  She sat right up, calling through her pacifier, "Hyrum" and was ready to play, a big smile on her face.  Plus one other time when she had fallen asleep in the car and it was too late for a nap but too early for bed.  Removed her abruptly from car seat, stood her on the ground and in a daze she smiled and walked towards the house.  Let's hope she keeps that cheerful riser habit through her teen years!

Snack Squad Supervisor - hands down to Hyrum!  Not only was he diligent to remind us to always pack a snack for every outing, but he also consistently alerted us to the time(s) when to eat the snack.  

Happiest Middle of the Night Snacker -  Emmaline wins this one.  That night she was up at 2 a.m., I realized she was hungry.  So between about 2:30 and 3:30 a.m. yogurt, bananas and crackers were being served.

Best Booklover - This was a close call.  Both Hyrum and Emmaline love books, but Emmaline edged out Hyrum on this one.  Emmaline would pull out one book at a time, turn one page at a time, then set it aside and take another book off the shelf.  Careful with each page, books were never thrown or torn or slobbered on.

One of my favorite images of Emmaline, sitting amidst a pile of books. 😊

Most Repeated Books - goes to Hyrum  He chose about 5 books that were his favorites out of the new offerings from the library, which we read at least 15 times each, occasionally having a new one in the mix.  He liked Paw Patrol colors, Tiger Can't Sleep, (which has a sequel I discovered at our library, Read to Tiger) and two different ones that had a big brother who helps a little sister.  Which is a perfect fit for the next award -
Best Big Brother Defender - Of course there is only one entry for this category, since there was only one big brother.  Hyrum.  After his Joy School on Thursday morning he had a cereal necklace which he generously shared with Emmaline.

Another time at a school playground a boy a little older than Emmaline approached her interested in her pacifier and even reached out to possibly take it.  Hyrum stepped between the boy and Emmaline, squared his shoulders and protectively told the boy Emmaline's pacifier was off limits. Brave brother defender! By the way: I had leniently given her the pacifier that Sunday afternoon because she had taken only a 40 minute nap during church and thought she might sleep on our stroll to the playground. (This btw for Eliza's benefit 😉)

  

Best long distance hiker/walker -  Emmaline was a close second in this category.  She walked the half mile to the school playground the first time we went there.  The way back she caught a ride in Autumn’s stroller.   But Hyrum wins this category in a shining way the day at the zoo.  We were there over four hours.  Emmaline rode in the stroller almost the entire time, but Hyrum walked the entire time.  There were intervals of sitting (when our Snack Squad Supervisor signaled snack time) and for about 30 minutes Hyrum dug for fossils in a super sand pit.  But when I calculate each one of my steps is about two of Hyrum’s then he actually walked for 8 hours.  So he easily earns the award for this category.

Calmest Sleeping Buddy - goes to Hyrum.  As I mentioned, the last night I slept on an air mattress in the living room downstairs so the clean sheets I'd put on the bed would stay clean.  I don't know what time Hyrum came down, I'm pretty sure it was before 2 a.m.  I patted the side of the mattress, he laid down and slept like a stone the rest of the night - no wiggling, no snoring or other noises, just perfectly still.

Re-certification in Toddler Speak and Preschool Lingo goes to Grandma!  That's how I knew Emmaline was hungry in the middle of the night when I could discern a word that sounded like "cracker?"  Emmaline has quite the vocabulary actually.  Words I could recognize:
Mom
Dad
Hyrum
Hi
High Five
Yummy
No
Peek a boo
Cracker
Drink
Yes
Swing
Again
Book
Hot
Ouch
Blow
Baby
ABC song
Here's a Ball for Baby Song
Up
Bubble
Grandma

Transportation Facilitator - special mention to Eliza for her well drawn maps, Joseph for the phone and downloaded maps, and Nicolina for transporting me to and from the airport in the wee hours of the morning!

Monday evening both Hyrum and Emmaline were sad to see me go.  My heart almost broke when I saw Emmaline crying at the window for me as I pulled away to drive to the airport.  For several days after I left,  the sounds of children laughing or crying if I was in a store or other place, would cause my heart to flutter a little.  That's when I knew that
 Camp Grandma Omaha had changed me and blessed me with precious memories.